Sheet separating and feeding device.



W. B; STORY. SHEET SEPARATING AND FEEDING DEVICE,

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 16, I916- Patentedl Dec. 4, 1917..

'3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

E! wvemtoz W. 3. STORY.

SHEET SEPARATING AND FEEDING DEVICE.

L APPLICATION FILED NOV- 16. 1916. mfi mau Patented Dec, 4, 191 7.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2- W. 8. STORY. SHEET SEPARATING AND FEEDING DEVICE.

APPUCATION FILED NOV. 16, I916. hwfi qmm Patented n%4,1917.

3 SHIETS-SHEET 3 WARD 3. STORY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN ASSEMBLING MACHINE COlVIPANY, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

masses.

Specification of Letters Patent.

ND FEEDING DEVICE.

' Patented nee. a, mid.

Application filed November 16,1916. Serial No. 131,672.

To all'whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, mm B. STORY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York,have invented with newspaper assembling machines although it may be applied and used in any location and for any purpose for which it is adapted. p

Primarily, the'object of the invention is to produce an improved apparatus for separating and feeding sheets from a pile with a more complete certainty of regular operation and at a higher rate of speed than is possible. in machines of this general nature heretofore known and used.

With this object generally in view, the invention consists partly in the provision of means for deflecting a sheet from a pile 'n combination with a device carried by the deflecting. means and movable relatively thereto to strip the deflected sheet therefrom.

The invention consists also in the: provision of means movable into position to support the pile while a sheet is being fed out therefrom, and operative while being so moved to oppose the tendency of the moving sheet to displace adjacent sheets from the pile.

The invention consists further in the provision of freely rotatable means mounted in position to hold the pile out of engagement with the feeding mechanism, and about which the sheets are deflected as they are individually fed out from the pile.

The invention comprises also suitable means for jogging both sides of the pile, as well as other features which will appear as the specification proceeds. V

In the" accompanying drawings the invention is disclosed in a concrete and preferred form, but it is to be understoodtlat the invention may be carried out by other embodiments thereof and by mechanism Widely differing from that selected for illustration. p

In the drawingain which" like reference characters are used to designate like parts throughout the several views Figure is a vertical sectional view of a ma chine embodying the invention taken substantially along the line 1-1 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail sectional view looking substantially along the line 2-2 of Fig. 3 and Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a partly plan and partly sectional No. 1,201,381, Oct. 17, 1916, in which a pile of sheets supported in a hopper are separated and fed out one at a timefrom the bottom of the pile. An improved method for thus feeding out the sheets is by the means herein disclosed comprising a rotating needle carrier located beneath the hopper for clutching and deflecting the lowermost sheet downwardly from the pile to gether with means for stripping the deflected sheet from the needle carrier, and means for moving the deflected sheet into position to be seized by feeding out members and fed out bodily from the hopper. Improved means are also included for supporting the sheet pile. both between and during the opererations of feeding out the lowermost sheets.

In the drawings a sheet separating and feeding machine is shown inwhich a sheet pile supporting hopper 1 is provided at the rear with an adjustable pile supporting plate 2 mounted on a fixed bracket 3, and at the front with pile supporting members taking the form of stationary fingers 1. In addition to the means for supporting the pile at the front and rear edges there are also provided an adjustable bar 5 and a freely rotatable roller 6 which extend from side to side of the hopper and serve to support the pile intermediate its ends. Between the idle roller 6 and the facing ends of the fixed fingers f is a space 7 through which the lowermost sheets can be successively fed out from the hopper. V 9

The. mechanism which is employedfor separating and feedingout the sheets from the hopper constitutes an improvement over the corresponding mechanism shown in the 1 patent referred to. Supported on a shaft 8 ofthe fingers 22 across this provides an extremely effective support for beneath the stationary pile supporting fin- I gers' 4 are the needle carriers 9 which as they rotate cause the needles 10 to pierce the low- Vermost sheet of the pile and withdraw it from its position resting on the supporting fingers 4 and deflect it downwardly through the space 7. The operation, up to this point, follows somewhat closely the corresponding one disclosed in the patent, but in this instance a needle stripping member 11 mounted on a rock shaft 12 which carries an arm 13 and a cam roller 14, is provided which is caused to swing about its pivot and strip the paper from the needles '10 when the cam roller 14 engages the fixed cam 15. Following close upon the stripping operation the follower 16 engages the deflected sheet as it is fed from the needles and sweeps it still farther downwardly until it is caught by the paper engaging shoulders 16 on the rota table feeding member 17 and carried into position to be gripped between the roller 18 and friction surface 19 of the member 17 which operate to feed the sheet bodily out from the hopper through the guide passage 20 to the guidingmember 21. 7

It will be seen that in place of the laterally slidable pile supporting fingers which in the machine shown in the patent are moved into supporting position beneath the pile when a sheet is being fed out, the supporting bar 5 andthe idle roller 6, around which the lowermost sheet is deflected, are provided for constantly providing a support for the pile. By this construction there can be no sagging of thecentral portion of the pile and the rotatable mounting of the roller 6 facilitates the removal of the lowermost sheet which is deflected around the periphery of the roller 6;

A further improvement in the means for supporting the pile while a sheet is being fed out over the corresponding means shown in the patent, takes the form of the reciprocating pile supporting fingers 22 which are arranged in a general parallel and alternate relation'to the stationary fingers 4. The reciprocating fingers 22 are provided with racks 23 which are adapted to slide through the guiding members 24 at the front of the machine, the racks meshing with pinions 25 carried on an oscillating shaft 26 to thereby move the reciprocating fingers from a retracted position corresponding to the posi tion of the stationary fingers, to an advanced position in which the ends of the reciprocating fingers extend substantially across the space 7 to the idle roller 6. The projection space, not only the pile which wholly prevents any sagging, but in addition the movement of thefingers ment to the toothed jecting movement of the rock arm toward their projected position is timed to take place during the time that a sheet is being pulled out from beneath the rear half of the pile. This sliding movement of the fingers from the front toward the rear of the pile is designed to counteract the sliding movement of the sheet which is being fed out from the rear toward the front of the pile, and nullify the tendency of the moving lowermost sheets to shift the whole pile forwardly and either crush the lower sheets against the front wall. of the hopper or cause them to creep upwardly along the front wall and thus interfere with the feeding-out operation.

The mechanism for driving the oscillating shaft 26 for giving motion to the recip-' rocating fingers 22, comprises a cam 27 carried on the shaft 8 which acts through a cam roll 28 carried on a rock arm 29 pivoted on the stay rod 30, to transmit move segment 31 pivoted at 32 on the side frame piece of the machine. The rock arm 29 is provided with a laterally extending roller 33 which projects into a slot 34 in the toothed segment 31 and serves to convey motion thereto. The toothed segment 31 meshes with a pinion 35 fixed on the shaft 26 to thereby oscillate the shaft and reciprocate the racks 23 and fingers 22. A pull spring 36 fixed at one end to the rock arm 29 and at the other to a fixed support such as the support 37 for the roller 6, operates to project the fingers to their advanced supporting position in alternation with their withdrawal by the action of the cam 27. A stop member 38 adjustably mounted in the bracket 39 carried by the framework serves to limit the proi 29 and the fingers 22.

Improved means have also been provided for jogging the pile of sheets in the hopper and preferably a set of jogging devices operates on both sides of the pile as shown in Fig. 4 of the drawing. The jogging means comprises the vertically extending jogging members 40 and 41 which are carried by the eccentrically driven supports 42 and 43 each of which is pivotally mounted on the eccentrics 44. Spiral gears 45 intermeshing with intermediate gears 46 serve to drive the eccentrics and thereby give an inward and downward movement to the jogging members 40 and 41 with each rotation of the cocentrics. Spiral gears 47 and 48 mounted on the shaft 18 mesh with the lowest gears of each eccentric device and serve as an operating means therefor.

It will be seen that the simple upright jogging members 40 and 41 alone might not provide a sufliciently eifective gripping action to force the sheets of the pile downwardly onto the feeding-out mechanism, and a yieldingly mounted packer tooth 49 reams re hasbeen-accordingly provided to cooperate with each jogging member. Each packer tooth 4:9, as is best shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4: of thedrawing, is so mounted as to project laterally from a supporting arm through an opening 51 provided for the purpose in each jogging member. lhe supporting arms 50 are preferably pivotally mounted on the outside .of the jogging members so that only the packerteeth project inwardly beyond the inner surfaces of the jogging members as will be clear from Fig. 4. in order that the packer teeth 49 may yield .when' the resistance of the pile reaches a degree that would be likely to cause the teeth to tear the material, the pull springs 52 are attached at 53 to the jogging members and to the end of the supporting arm 50 opposite the packer teeth. As will be seen in Figsrl and 2 the action of the springs 52 will normally hold the teeth 19 against thelower margins of the openings .51 in the jogging members, and that the teeth can move upwardly across the openings 51 against the pull of the springs 52 under the resisting pressure of the pile of sheets.

It will be noted that the jogging member 11 shown at the right-hand side of Fig. 4 of the drawing is not only ofless height than the corresponding member 40 so as to facilitate the manual replenishing of the hopper from this side of the machine, but the jogging member 11 isinaddition adjustably mounted sothat; it can be moved laterally with relation to the hopper to operate .on sheet piles of different width. The adjusting means comprises a slotted bar 5% extending laterally-from the jogging member 41 and slidably mounted in the supporting member 43 with relation to which the bar 54k can be secured in any desired position by means of the screws 55 and slots 56 as will be obvious.

Variousother adjustingdevices are provided foradapting the machine to handle materials of different size and thickness. A means for varying the size of the hopper alongthe other axis takes the form of a sliding connection between the rear pile supporting plate 2 and the bracket 3. Through :this adjustment the plate 2 and the vertically extending rear pile support ing members 57 can be moved toward or from the front pile supporting members 58 to accommodate sheets of different length.

A means for varying the cooperative relation of the feed roller 18 and the sup plemental feed roller 63 to the feeding member 17 comprises the mounting of the rollers in arms, as shown at 59, pivoted on the stay rods 60. Spring supporting rods 61 piv otally mounted at 62 in the framework carry the springs 64% which bear against abutment lugs 65 on the arms 59 to press the respective rollers 18 and 63 into engagement with the feeding member 17. lhe particular adjusting means provided for varying the tension of the springs G 1 comprises the nuts 65 on the spring supporting rods 61.

Still another adjusting means in shown in connection. with the pile supporting bar 5 and the idle roller (5. Both the roller 6 and the cross bar 5 are supported at their ends by means of the brackets 66 which are provided with slots 67 through which screws 68 pass to secure the slotted brackets 66 to the side members of the machine frame .work. It will be seen that by means of the screw and slot arrangement'for attaching the brackets 66 to the framework, that both the lateral and the vertical position of the cross bar 5 and the roller 6 can be varied, The vertical position of the cross bar 5 can be still further varied independently of the position of the roller 6 by means of the clamps 37 through which the angular position of the arms 70 which support the cross bar 5 can be varied. The clamp members 37 serve to attach the arms 70 to inwardly projecting lugs, not shown, on the brackets 66.

A still further adjusting means comprises the adjusting screw 71 which is so mounted as to bear againstthe needle stripper mem ber 11 and thereby regulate the depth to which the needles can penetrate the material, as is best shown in Fig. 2 of the draw-- ing. A supplemental means for securing the same result is secured by providing the needles themselves with threaded body portions by means of which they can be retracted or advanced within their support.

Any suitable mechanism may be utilized for driving the mechanism described, but preferably a driving means such as is shown in the patent, to which reference has been made, would be made use of.

What is claimed, is:

'. 1. A sheet separating mechanism comprising: means for supporting a pile of sheets, a rotatable separating device including needles for engaging and deflecting a sheet from the pile, a needle stripping member carried by said device, means for moving said stripping member relatively to said needles to disengage the sheet therefrom, and a member carried by said separating device for engaging said deflected sheet and additionally. deflecting the same.

2. A sheet separating and feeding mechanism comprising: means for supporting a pile of sheets, a rotatableseparating device for engaging and deflectinga sheet from the pile, a stripping member carried by said device, means for moving said stripping mem- I ber relatively to said separating means to disengage the sheet therefrom, and means for engaging said deflected sheet and withdrawing the same bodily from the pile.

3. A sheet separating mechanism com prising: means 'for supporting a pile of sheets, a rotatable separating device for engaging and deflecting a sheet from the pile, a pivotally mounted stripping member carried by said device, and stationary means arranged to be engaged by said stripping member in the rotation thereof to swing the stripping member about its pivot and thereby disengage the sheet from said separating device.

4. A sheet separating and feeding mechanism comprising: means for supporting a pile of sheets, a rotatable separating device including needles for engaging and deflect ing a sheet from the pile, a needle stripping member carried by said device, means for moving said stripping member relatively to said needles to disengage the sheet therefrom, and means for engaging said deflected sheet and withdrawing the same bodily from the pile.

5. A sheet separating mechanism comprising: means for supporting a pile of sheets, a rotatable separating device including needles for engaging and deflecting a sheet from the pile, a pivotally mounted needle stripping member carried by said device, and stationary means arranged to be engaged by said stripping member in the rotation thereof to swing the stripping member about its pivot and thereby disengage the sheet from said needles. 6. A sheet separating mechanism comprising: means for supporting a pile of sheets, a rotatable separating device including needles for engagin and deflecting a sheet from the pile, a nee le stripping member carried by said device, means for moving said stripping member relatively to said needles to disengage the sheet therefrom, and means for additionally deflecting said sheet.

7 A sheet separating and feeding mechanism comprising: means for supporting a pile of sheets, a rotatable separating device including needles for engaging and deflecting a sheet from the pile, a needle stripping member carried by said device, means for moving said stripping member relatively to said needles to disengage the sheet therefrom, a member carried by said separating device for engaging said deflected sheet and additionally deflecting the same, and means for engaging said deflected sheet and withdrawing the same bodily from the pile.

8. A sheet separating and feeding apparatus comprising: means for supporting a pile of sheets, means for positive y deflecting a sheet from the pile, means for positively stripping the sheet from the deflecting means, means for additionally deflecting the sheet, and means for seizing the deflected sheet and feeding it out from the pile.

9. A sheet separating and feeding mechanism comprising: means for supporting a pile of sheets at the ends thereof, a freely r0- tatable member in continuous supporting engagement with the )ile of sheets intermediate the ends thereof, a feeding-out roller mounted beneath said rotatable member, means mounted beneath an end of the pile for deflecting the lowermost sheet downwardly across said rotatable member, and means cooperating with the feeding-out roller for feeding out the deflected sheet across the peripheries of said rotatable and said feeding-out roller.

10. A sheet separating and feeding mechanism comprising: means for supporting a pile of sheets at the ends thereof, a freely rotatable member in continuous supporting engagement with the pile of sheets intermediate the ends thereof, means mounted underneath an end of the pile for deflecting the corresponding end of the lowermost sheet downwardly across said rotatable member intermediate the ends of the pile, and means for feeding out the deflected sheet.

11. In a sheet separating and feeding device, means for supporting a pile of sheets, and yielding means for jogging a side of the pile with an inward and downward move ment.

12. In a sheet separating and feeding device, means for supporting a pile of sheets, and means including a spring-pressed mem ber for jogging the sides of the pile with an inward and downward movement.

13. In a sheet separating and feeding device, means for supporting a pile of sheets, means for jogging a side of the pile including a jogging member havin a movable packer finger extending inward y toward the pile therefrom, and a spring for holding the packer finger in position to yieldingly engage the pile.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 13th day of November, A. D. 1916.

WARD B. STORY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

